Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Sour cherry pie smoothie

I am in love with my little Magic Bullet blender. It's easy to clean. It has a very small footprint, which means it lives neatly on my counter nestled next to the mini-chopper and the coffee grinder. It holds just enough for one or two servings - portion control! And did I mention it's easy to clean?

On the down side, it's not the most powerful blender in the world. But for a smoothie, really, how powerful does it have to be? I'm not looking to liquefy the world, just a little overripe fruit. It works for me.

I know most people like yogurt in smoothies, that creamy-smooth-tangy background behind the fruit. Personally, I prefer the cleaner taste of juice-based smoothies. (I make an exception for banana chocolate "milkshake" smoothies, which take the concept of creamy-smooth to another level entirely.)

Can it still be called a smoothie without milk or yogurt? Should it be called a juicie or a blendie or a fruitie? Whatever. You need a little liquid to get things going.

My liquid of choice these days is Cherries by Nature's tart cherry juice concentrate. It's thick like syrup, with no added sugar. It tastes like cherry pie. And that's how this smoothie got its name. Is there actually pie in that glass? No, of course not. But with a few tablespoons of this concentrated tart cherry juice in the blender with sweet cherries, peach and watermelon, you think "cherry pie" with every sip.

Thanks to Cherries by Nature for the free sample of tart cherry juice concentrate. The Magic Bullet endorsement is entirely unsolicited and uncompensated.